"There has been a lot of give and take since April," emphasized Rodgers. "There truly are two distinct cultures aboard Ponce, but I have been focusing on making this crew one team with one mission. In the beginning, we trained according to culture. For example, there were two separate general quarters drills - a fire-and-boat drill for civilian mariners and general quarters for the military Sailors. Today, we train as one, using both the fire-and-boat and GQ alarm signals. Setting zebra was not in the civilian mariner lexicon, and neither was steam engine order telegraph verbiage.
"Conversely, military Sailors were not accustomed to a tag-out program with actual locks for breakers, valves and switches. Military Sailors were not accustomed to mandatory sleep hours, coffee breaks, 30-minute callouts for evolutions, and other rules codified in contracts from three unions, representing the civil service mariners. I credit the individual maturity and professionalism of the crew to keep an open mind and selfless focus on the mission, vice the closed minded obsession with 'the-way-we've-always-done-it' mentality."
The average age aboard Ponce is 43, which is something very new for an U.S. Navy warship.
"We had a 75-year-old purser that steamed with Admiral Zumwalt [aboard]," said Rodgers. "Currently, there is one 70-year-old aboard Ponce and a handful of 60-year-old mariners. There is also a family (father, son, daughter) on the ship, and a husband-and-wife team. This tour is far from the 'typical' [because of these dynamics]. In fact, the more you attempt [the typical Navy way], the more you stress the crew into unsafe and morale-strained conditions. The challenges of this crewing concept is not something specifically taught in the curriculums at surface warfare school, but the leadership demands of this tour are inherent in naval officers as taught in the salty classrooms at sea and the diverse tours in our careers. Commanding a hybrid ship is not 'command and control' as much as it is 'command and persuade.'"
In addition to the challenges facing the integrated civilian and military crew, the 41-year-old ship also had to go through quite a transformation to serve in its current role. Ponce's decommissioning ceremony was scheduled to be March 30, 2012, but before the decision was made to convert it to its current role, Rodgers said she was in a "very-challenged state" when the MSC mariners and IA Sailors came aboard.
"The last LPD crew had all but held the ceremony, so when we arrived aboard the ship, we rolled up our sleeves and, like any good Sailor and mariner, owned the challenge and got it done," said Rodgers. "The spanner wenches, fire hoses, fire bottles and battle lanterns were all gone. Fuses were pulled, and computers were antiquated with an 85-percent reimage-failure rate lacking years of any tech refreshing. The CIWS (close-in weapons system) gun mounts were covered in rust, the decks needed urgent preservation and the well deck was substandard as well. This hybrid crew, with a lot of help shoreside, brought Ponce back to life."
Fleet Forces Command, Military Sealift Command, Naval Surface Forces Atlantic and Command Strike Force Training Atlantic invested a lot of time and resources in getting the ship upgraded with state-of-the-art equipment. These commands provided a talented crew to meet the task, and scheduled an intense training program to get Ponce's crew competent and confident to meet a very aggressive operational schedule.
Much work was invested in Ponce in order for her to deploy June 1, and chop into 5th Fleet June 26. Now that Ponce is forward deployed to 5th Fleet, she is in high demand because of her unique capabilities and her full-time availability. Besides the legacy capabilities of a well deck, flight deck, cargo stowage, crane, and embarked berthing spaces, she offers even more than before. Ponce serves as a repair ship with a fully functional machine shop, metal shop, valve shop, hydraulic shop, filter shop, and a guest machine shop for mine countermeasures, special forces, riverine, joint, and partnership/coalition embarks. The Scan Eagle unmanned aerial vehicle is now a ship asset and, while there are no aircraft assigned to Ponce, she has a very functional and busy underway flight deck. The ship can embark at least 350 personnel, male and female, with more than 137 work stations in eight new mission spaces, all with video teleconference capability. The large joint operational center, or JOC, has access to six independent computer networks.
"Additionally, we have a full-size gym and self-serve laundry. One of the best morale installs on Ponce was a stand-alone Wi-Fi in the ship's internet cafe, air-gapped from the [ship's computer network]," smiled Rodgers. "[A special] thanks goes to MSC, USFF, SPAWAR, and FCC/C10F for recognizing the permanent deployment status of Ponce's crew, and for granting the authority to operate an internet caf at sea. The crew can now communicate with their families and friends back home, which is a major morale booster and decreases the burden on NIPR/SIPR bandwith. Many of the crew [especially] enjoyed having Christmas with their families over FaceTime and Skype."
When the Navy decided to transform Ponce into a critical 5th Fleet asset it could only predict the versatility of Ponce and the unique capability it would bring to the region. Ponce's extraordinary success in supporting mine warfare substantiated the Navy's decision with her being the center-focused role during the 2012 International Mine Countermeasures Exercise (IMCMEX).
"We had the basics down for IMCMEX 12, and I want to perform at an even higher level for IMCMEX 13 this spring," said Rodgers. "The challenge for IMCMEX 12 was just being new and accommodating all the mine technologies, people and 'stuff' from over 30 different nations. It was truly a special opportunity for so many countries to come together for the mine countermeasures exercise last year. To see the Japanese, the Singaporeans and the French dive teams launching their small boats out of Ponce's well deck was very exciting. With our new CENTRIX network, I'm now looking forward to more international, partnership-type exercises!"
Perhaps the Navy and the Military Sealift Command team have found a viable and cost effective way to go about future mine countermeasure and maritime security operations with the first ever Afloat Forward Staging Base (Interim) in USS Ponce.
"I see the great potential and value a hybrid crew like Ponce's can provide the Navy," said Rodgers. "It is not 'the' model, but 'a' model. We're not better or worse, just different and cheaper with proven value to the AOR. We're not perfect yet, but we are on the right trajectory. Commanding Ponce is a rare honor, and I'm privileged to lead a distinctive ship and such an extraordinary crew.
"If any Sailor or mariner out there is thinking about a tour on Ponce, you are most welcome to our quarterdeck, flight deck and well deck! Just bring an open and innovative mind, and a willingness to do something special and brilliance in your craft. Most importantly, pack extra working attire!"
